Mexico's most wanted drug lord El Mencho killed in military operation
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as el mencho, has been killed during a military operation in Tapalpa, Jalisco, the Mexican defence ministry said, a move that set off violent reprisals and travel disruptions across multiple states.
El Mencho wounded in Tapalpa and died en route to Mexico City
The defence ministry said Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — also named Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes in other accounts — was wounded in clashes between his supporters and the army in Tapalpa and later died while being flown to Mexico City on Sunday. The context also states that three others, including Oseguera Cervantes, were wounded and later died. El Mencho was described as a 59-year-old former police officer who led the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartel, an organisation identified in the context as responsible for trafficking cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the US.
Clashes and casualties in Tapalpa and beyond
During the operation in the town of Tapalpa, the defence ministry said troops came under fire. Four members of the CJNG were killed in Tapalpa, and the context records that troops killed four people during the clash. Three members of the armed forces were wounded or injured. The ministry said the operation was "planned and executed" by special forces and that aircraft from the Mexican Air Force and the National Guard were deployed. Authorities seized several armoured vehicles and weapons, including rocket launchers and other firearms, and two more people were arrested.
Violence spreads: burning cars, roadblocks and attacks in multiple states
CJNG supporters struck back across several states, setting cars alight, building roadblocks and attacking security forces in eight states. The context also describes cartel henchmen blockading highways with burning cars and torching businesses in several states, paralysing parts of the country. Eyewitnesses filmed plumes of smoke rising over multiple cities, and there were reports of gunmen on the streets in Jalisco and elsewhere throughout Sunday.
Travel disruptions, US cooperation and official warnings
The US had provided information that assisted the operation, and the US Embassy in Mexico said on X that Mexican special forces carried out the operation "within the framework of bilateral cooperation, with U. S. authorities providing complementary intelligence. " The US State Department had offered a $15m (£11. 1m) reward for information leading to El Mencho's capture. US deputy secretary of state Christopher Landau, previously ambassador to Mexico, called Oseguera Cervantes' killing a "great development" for the US and Mexico and the rest of Latin America. The US State Department issued a shelter-in-place warning for US citizens in the states of Jalisco and Tamaulipas, and for some areas in Michoacan, Guerrero and Nuevo Leon. On Sunday, Air Canada, United Airlines, Aeromexico and American Airlines suspended flight operations.
What residents noticed and what tourists faced
In Guadalajara — named in the context as one of the host cities of the forthcoming Fifa World Cup — eyewitness video showed rising plumes of smoke. In the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta on the Jalisco coast, the context says potentially thousands of tourists are trapped in the resort because of the unrest; tourists described scenes as a "war zone" as smoke billowed into the sky. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo urged people to remain "calm" and wrote on X that "in most parts of the country, activities are proceeding normally. "
Earlier this month the context notes the CJNG was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by Donald Trump's administration. That designation and the security operation that killed Oseguera Cervantes have produced immediate seizures of weapons and vehicles and a wave of retaliatory attacks. Guadalajara remains one of the confirmed host cities for the forthcoming Fifa World Cup, a scheduled event now running alongside heightened security operations and travel advisories.
